Zhu meanwhile sends his general Kang Huaizhen…

Constantinople takes steps to strengthen the imperial navy, which successfully attacks the Arab fleet in the Aegean in 908.

The Caliph, al-Muktafi, having been confined for several months to his sickbed, intrigue has been made for some time as to his successor.

The choice is between a younger brother of al-Muktafi's, whom the Caliph himself favors, and Abu 'l-Fadl Ja'far ibn Ahmad al-Mu'tadid, who is only thirteen at the time.

Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz, born to privilege as the great-great-grandson of Harun al-Rashid, had had a tragic childhood in the intrigues of the Abbasid caliphate.

His grandfather, the caliph al-Mutawakkil, had been assassinated when Ibn al-Mu'tazz was only six weeks old, and eight years later his father, Caliph al-Mu'tazz was also murdered.

The boy had been spared the purge of the palace by fleeing to Mecca with his grandmother.

Upon returning to Baghdad soon after, he had distanced himself from politics and lived the hedonistic life of a young prince.

It was during this time that he wrote his poetry, devoted to the pleasures with which he ias so familiar.

His Kitab al-Badi, which was also composed at this time, laid the groundwork for future studies of poetry by Arabic scholars.

Despite his reluctance, Ibn al-Mu'tazz is persuaded to assume the caliphate following the death of his cousin al-Muktafi.

It is hoped that he will put an end to the intrigues that have plagued the dynasty for decades.

The Vizier, however, favors another Al-Muqtadir to assume the throne.

Ibn al-Mu'tazz is forced from the palace and strangled.

Almost prophetically, he had once written as a poet: A wonderful night, but so short I brought it to life, then strangled it.

The new caliph assumes the title of al-Muqtadir, “Mighty by the help of the Lord”.

Al-Layth and his brother al-Mu'addal had in 890 helped their father 'Ali bn al-Layth escape from imprisonment at the hands of the latter's uncle, the Saffarid ruler Amr ibn al-Layth.

The three of them had fled to Khurasan, where they had entered the services of the leading anti-Saffarid in that region, Rafi' b. Harthama.

After 'Ali died in 893, the brothers had continued to serve Rafi'.

After Rafi' was defeated and killed in 896 they had been captured by 'Amr, who however had treated them well.

Following 'Amr's capture by the Samanids in 900, the slave (ghulam) commander Sebük-eri had begun establishing ties with al-Layth, who had gone into hiding in Sistan.

As the son of 'Ali, who had originally been designated as the successor to Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar, he is a possible contender for the amirate, and has gained supporters in the army.

Despite this, he had at first remained loyal to 'Amr's successor, Tahir ibn Muhammad.

He had participated in the abortive 900-901 campaign to recover Fars from the Abbasid Caliphate and another and more successful campaign that took place in around 904.

After the second Fars campaign, Tahir had returned to Zaranj, at which point both he and his brother Ya'qub had given themselves over to lives of pleasure and excesses.

Over the past few years, the two brothers have begun to lose the confidence of the people, and although the government bureaucracy has continued to function, the stability of the provinces has declined as rival factions opposed each other.

By 905, Sebük-eri had stopped forwarding taxes collected in Fars and Kerman to Zarang.

Tahir had responded by leading an army against Fars, but had soon been persuaded to abort the expedition and return to Sistan, having accomplished nothing.

In late 908, al-Layth arrives at Zaranj with a small army and occupies part of the city.

The first inhabitants to settle on the estuary fringes of the rivers Tay and Eden during the Mesolithic (middle stone age) had come between 10,000 to 5000 BCE from the plains in Northern Europe.

This had been followed by the nomadic people who settled around the modern town around 4500 BCE as farmers clearing the area of woodland and building monuments.

A monastery had been established in the mid-eighth century by the Pictish king Oengus I, traditionally associated with the relics of Saint Andrew, a number of bones supposed to be the saints's arm, kneecap, three fingers and a tooth believed to have been brought to the town by St Regulus.

King Causantín mac Cináeda (Constantine I or II) in 877 built a new church for the Culdees at St. Andrews and later the same year had been captured and executed (or perhaps killed in battle) after defending against Viking raiders.

The town of Saint Andrews becomes the seat of the bishop of Alba in 906, with the boundaries of the see being extended to include land between the River Forth and River Tweed.

The Magyars raid Saxony and Thuringia in 908.

Burchard has to defend Thuringia from the incursions of the Magyars and is defeated and killed in battle, along with Rudolf I, Bishop of Würzburg, and the former duke Egino, on August 3, 908.

He is the last recorded duke of Thuringia.

The duchy is the smallest of the so-called "younger stem duchies", and is absorbed by Saxony after Burchard's death.

The Thuringians remain a distinct people, and their land will be organized as a landgraviate.

Wang Shenzhi establishes the Min Kingdom in today's Fujian Province, with Fuzhou (known at this time as Changle) as its capital, in 909.

When the major warlord Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan) forced Emperor Zhaozong's son and successor Emperor Ai to yield the throne to him, ending Tang and starting a new Later Liang Dynasty with him as its Emperor Taizu, Wang Shenzhi had recognized the new emperor, and had subsequently been given the greater chancellor title of Shizhong.

In 909, Emperor Taizu creates him the Prince of Min, and also gives him the chancellor title of Zhongshu Ling.

Also in 909, after Wang Shenzhi feels slighted by Zhang Zhiyuan, the emissary from Hongnong (the predecessor state to Wu, ruled at this time by Yang Wo the Prince of Hongnong, who does not recognize the Later Liang emperor), Wang decapitates Zhang and breaks off diplomatic relations with Hongnong.

Arnulf, soon after his ascension to the Bavarian dukedom, had faced constant raids from the Hungarians, who have laid waste to the lands of Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia.

In 909, the Magyars raid Alamannia.

On their return, however, Arnulf inflicts a reverse upon them on the Rott (river).

Mansur al-Hallaj, a Persian mystic, breaks his early ties with Sufism, the mystical school of Islam, and turns to public preaching, but comes under fire from the Sufis for revealing his secret experiences publicly.

When he utters the phrase “ana l'haqq” ("I Am the Truth"), a Sufi faction brings charges of blasphemy against him.

After a 908 pilgrimage to Mecca, al-Hallaj gathers a large band of disciples in Baghdad and preaches to them his versions of mysticism and asceticism.

Yusuf ibn Abi'l Saj had come to power in Azerbaijan 901 by overthrowing his nephew, Devdad Ibn Muhammad.

He had razed the walls of Maragha and moved the capital of the Sajid dynasty to Ardabil.

Shortly afterwards, the Bagratid king of Armenia, Smbat I, had offered to become a direct vassal of the caliph al-Muktafi.

As this threatened the Sajids' interests in Armenia, Yusuf had demanded that Smbat appear before him.

When the Bagratid refused, Yusuf had invaded Armenia.

An agreement was eventually reached between the two sides in 903; Smbat received a crown from Yusuf, acknowledging him as his overlord.

Yusuf had never formalized his relations with the caliph, and they had became hostile toward each other.

In 908 a caliphal army had been sent against Yusuf, but al-Muktafi had died and his successor al-Muqtadir had made peace with the Sajid.

Al-Muqtadir's vizier Ibn al-Furat had been instrumental in the establishment of the peace; from this point forward, Yusuf will consider him to be his protector in Baghdad and often name him on his coinage.

The peace allows Yusuf to be invested with the governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia in 909 by the caliph.

Isma'ilis from Yemen have reached North Africa, where the Fatimid movement arises.

Before the Fatimids, there had been other rulers in North Africa and Egypt who had succeeded in making themselves virtually independent of the 'Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad; but they had been Muslims of the Sunni branch of Islam, willing to recognize the token suzerainty of the caliph as head of the Islamic community.

The Fatimids, however, as the heads of a rival religious movements—the Isma'ili sect of the Shi'i branch—are dedicated to the overthrow of the existing religious and political order in all Islam.

Unlike their predecessors, they refuse to offer even nominal recognition to the 'Abbasid caliphs, whom they reject as usurpers.

They themselves—as Isma'ili imams, descendants of the Prophet through his daughter Fatimah and his kinsman 'Ali—are, in the eyes of their followers, the rightful caliphs, both by descent and by divine choice the custodians of the true faith and the legitimate heads of the universal Islamic state and community.

Their purpose is not to establish another regional sovereignty but to supersede the 'Abbasids and to found a new caliphate in their place.

By 909, they are strong enough for their imam, who had been in hiding, to emerge and proclaim himself caliph, with the messianic title of al-Mahdi (the Rightly Guided One).

This marks the beginning of a new state and dynasty.